Messages - pre_JD_2be

If this is your reason, keep your addendum super short. Crazy short. Like less than 200 words short. Get to the point, get in, get out. That's my advice! Long addenda are for tragedies--if you just needed to grow up and try again, no need to drag the addendum out.

First post here on LSD. I am wondering what to should focus on when writing a GPA addendum. My situation is that I never really liked school, went half-assed for awhile and dropped out. After two years off I went back and completed my bachelor's degree. There is a significant difference in my GPA after I went back.

I wrote up a quick first draft if anyone would like to read it. I could definitely use some advice here.

law schools know that most students have no idea what their precise goals are in applying to law school. This question ferrets out those who, for example, have a PhD in Biochem and are absolutely going into patent law.

Your desire to work in other countries will work just fine for schools with strong concentrations in international law. What I would say is this: a personal statement is not a contract. You can therefore write about what your would do with your law degree, in the best of all possible worlds, if you had your druthers.

What you would do best to stay away from is: A) Vague generalities (Because the study of law will make me a better human being!) and B) Wild guesses (I think I might want to do entertainment law! Or, maybe, animal rights! Oooh, or maybe IP, because I kinda like computers and books!).

Write what is true for you, without being to syrupy, and you should be fine. Good luck!

The best PS topics are gonna be those where you are acting, not those where you are being acted upon. So, topic 1, although done a lot in personal statements, is actually not a great PS topic--precisely because it is about what happened to you, and not about something you did.

Also, topic 1 is more of an undergrad PS statement topic. For a law PS, generally you want to write about something you did as an adult and recently--not something that happened to you when you were a kid.

This doesn't mean you couldn't fit in a mention of your family background in whatever PS you do write. It would have to fit gracefully--but an aside like "Growing up without a father at home made XY&Z even more challenging" or "AB&C is the particular outcome of my having been raised by my grandmother." So you could slide the subject in without focusing your essay on it, in other words.

You could probably write a really intriguing PS about mortuary science...or a really dreadful PS. You should probably try it out and see.

Get crackin'! October is roaring up here--gotta get that LSDAS file complete--